Excavating-machine.



E. KEAST EXCAVATING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED IAN-25:191L

' Patented Mar. 26,1918.

' a SHEETS-SHEET! avwawtozfined? 17960.0?

E. KEAST.

EXCAVATING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED IAN-.25. l-9l7.

Patented Mar. 26,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

w vtmeawo .zen of the United nee, 1n the county tiplicity of inovii'igparts.

- gitudinal sections showing is an endless conveyor REA-S2 01 meann'nn, am; nxcavame-nacnmn Specification of Letters Patent.

atna Application filed January 25, 1917 Serial-No; manic.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ERNEST KnAs'r, a citi- States, residing at Negauof Marquette and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Excavating-Machines; and I do declare the-following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same: l

My invention is air-excavating machine tie-- signed primarily for use in tunnelingand mining, although its be limited to these fields. 4

The object of the-invention to provide amachine of-this class which will readily raise earth, .ore and thelilre and deposit it into a conveyer, without the use of a mul- To this end, the invention resides in certain novel features of construction and in the unique combinations of parts to be: hereinafter fully described and claimed;

In describing the invention, I shall refer to the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters designate corre sponding'parts throughout the several views and whereine Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with my inven- Fig. 2 a'fragnient-ary top plan View;

F igs. 3, i, 5' and 6 are detail vertical 1011- the operation of-the machine;

Fig. 7 is a horizontalsection taken on the plane indicated by the line7-7 of Fig, 3; Figs. 8, 9 and '10 are vertical transverse sections viewed respectively on the lines 88, 9'9'and;lO- lO of Fig. 3; l

1 Fig. 11 is a sideelevation of the-carriage and the arinscarried thereby; and 1 Fig. 12 is a top plan view of-these parts, In these drawings, a. car C. is shown mounted upon trucks--"-T designed" to-run. upon a track not shown. cur C upon front and E having at its front end a hopper H into which the excavating mechanism is adapted to dischz'u'ge, whereby the ore or other material raised by such mechanism niav be conveyed to the rear end of the car C. The provision of the coni'eyer E renders the machine well adanted for tunneling purposes sincethe material from the application need not diderent steps "in.-

Supported by the; rear frames F and F,

blind end-of the tunnel n ay" heieonveyed to the open" end thereof wanna: the use of cumbersome apparatus.

Rigidly secured tojend projecting fore isa-pairof suitably 1 having on their curved as shown. A the-juncture of the ug ier-ends of th I ways 4 with the wars 2, a, painoitgravity pcis 'prov-i'ded, such sitioned i te nem em 5 members eing of triangular tormationand .being-pivotedtat one of their angIes -to the.

cheeks adjaleenttheupper sides"'-of,.the front temiinalsfief, thetrack's 2, "the rots being designated in the drawings-by t e nu'-" meralsfir Th disposedfiacrossnthe front terminals. ofltlife trackwans -:2' with their .free rear ends- 7f so positidned as. to" constitute continuations jOf thelfrgont walls of theltrackways 4, this'being expedientorder that shoe sinenabers yet .to-be' defined inlay ,move from the, .front ends'off-the trackwaysfl into thekwaysjl, but may; not Zgt-ravel 1- frorn the; latter; into the .formerl-s .A'd ditionalj, gate, inemhers '8 are. provided at the juncturd ofithe lowerends of the trackways 4f withithe f ways 2 @1611 agate members being pivoted at 9 andheldhornially raised-by sp'rings 10 orthe 'equivalents thereofl Theitunction of-"th'e ineinb'ers Sis to allow the; shoe members above n entioned tot-readily travel fronn thetrackways 4 into the ways 2, but topreuent movement or such members from "the. 1attQlffi&]tO;-the former.

. Slidably moii'nted' between thetwo cheeks 1;is a carriage-n11? hawging rollers; or the like 11% travelingiirf theftrackways 2, said carii'a'g' being connected with the front end of apistoifrod which enters 'a fluid pressure cylinder ,13 ofuthe rear end of the car C and carries an. appropriate piston M. whereby the carriage may be projected or retracted at will 'bv the admission of pressure into one end or the other of the cvlinder.

Projecting forwardly from the carriage 11 and pivotally connected thereto, prefera lv onone of the axles of the rollers 1:2, is

a p air of arms l5ohaving down front r126 ieia.

upright trackways 4 which are prefrahly" front terminals" of i e gate members 5 are normally 4 are ends 15 carrying. a scoop or bucket 16 normally'di'spose'd in advance of the front truck of thecar C. The intermediate portions of the arms l carry shoe members 17 preferablyin the form of rollers mounted on the opposite ends of an axle 18 which passes through the two arms and is enlargedat its center at19'to correctly space said arms;

' Y though thisarrangement of parts is prefarable,- it is evident that the rollers 17 might 'Well'be carried hv'stub shafts, projecting one from each arm 15.

' .;When the carriage 11 is projected'forwardly,ithe rollers 17' are adapted to travel i upwardly and rearwardlyin thecurved front ends 3 of the trackways 2, whereas'the carriage wheels .12 travel only in thehori- 'z'ontal portions ofsaid waysjfThis causes I the bucket 16 to he inverted over thehopper H as clearly shown in Fig. 5, whereupon the 4 load' gathered by said huck'et-during-its ini 'tial vforward movement isvv deposited in said hopper to bggcarried r'jearwardly therefrom "b'y'the conveyer E. When the rollers 17 come'in contact with the under sides of the gate members 5, they will raise such mem- 'bersas shown inFig. 4E andwill thus travel "into the :upper ends of the trackways d.

The gate members 5 drop by gravity assoon as. the rollers enter the ways and thus preventsuch rollers from moving again into the-curved portions ofthe trackways 2. When the rollers stand in this position, the carriage 11 is disposed at its limit of forward movement as illustrated Fig. 5. ,W'hen now the carriage is retracted, since the rollers-l7 cannot leave the upper-ends of the; Ways-4, they will travel downwardly therein' after the carriage has passed the lower end of said Ways and will op'enthe gate'memloers 8 by contact therewith, whereupon-they may assume their normal posi-- ti'qns in the horizontal portions of the ways .2. "The members 8 are now returned to normal. position by them springs 10 in order manna-as in the drawings, but obviously numerous changes regarding these features as well as others may be madetwithin the scope of the inventionwithout sacrificingany of the advantagesthereof. lclaimr III-{1n excavating machine, the combination of a support, a pair of -parallel vertical cheeks mounted on said support and having rearwardly extending. horizontal portions, horizontal trackson the inner opposed sides of said portions and curving upwardly and rearwardly atthe front edges of said cheeks, additional tracks leading-from the upper ends of the curved portions of said first named tracks. to the'horizontal portrons thereof, a carriage having front and rear shoes traveling on-sa1d first named tracks, a pitman' for moving said carriage forwardly and rearwardly, a pair of arms pivoted at their rear ends to said carriage vand having front. endscurved downwardly, said front ends carrying a scoop, and shoes on saidarrns adapted to travel upwardly and rearwardly in the curved ends of the first named tracks to dump the scoop and then downwardly insaid additional'tracks to right said scoop. I I p In testimony whereof I havehereunto set my hand in the presence or two subscr bing: witnesses.

ERNEST. KEAST. Witnesses;

THEODORE rams, I HENRY Nannnovrs. 

